Three notorious, armed highway  robbers, who recently robbed a South African truck driver of his cellphone at gunpoint along the Beit Bridge-Masvingo road, were each sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Gift Simbabure (24), Vincent Bhonono (21) and Tawanda Bandadzo (20), all from the Dulibadzimu suburb in Beit Bridge, pleaded not guilty to charges of armed robbery. They were, however, convicted by Regional Magistrate Owen Tagu. The three will each serve an effective eight years in prison, after two years of the sentence were conditionally suspended for five years.

Prosecutor Johannes Tlou told the court that on 27 September at around 21:30, the trio, who were in the company of the now deceased Munyaradzi Bisa, went to the rail crossing point along the Beit Bridge-Masvingo road. The court heard that the four men would waylay trucks as they slowed down at the railway crossing point.

On the day of the incident, the victim, who was driving towards Masvingo, arrived at the rail crossing in the company of a local security guard. When the heavy vehicle slowed down, Bisa climbed up the truck and removed the pressure pipes that connect the horse and the trailer, resulting in the truck's developing a mechanically fault. The driver
then stopped the truck to investigate the cause of the problem. The four men, who were armed with a pistol and metal bars, then pounced on him and took a Nokia cell phone.

The complainant screamed, prompting the security guard to get out of the truck. He spotted the four men running away towards the bush and ordered them to stop, but they continued fleeing in different directions. The security guard then opened fire and shot Bisa, who fell down and died on the spot. A report was made to the police, leading to the arrest of Simbabure, Bhonono and Bandadzo, following a tip-off. The firearm was also recovered.